1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a thermal reactor for the continuous thermolytic recycling of granules of scrap tires, vulcanization residues and waste plastics, and of similar products, said thermal reactor featuring a feed portion, a central heating-zone portion and a discharge portion arranged vertically one below the other.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the prior art, recycling of granulated scrap tires, vulcanization residues and waste plastic for purposes of re-use is mostly performed in rotating tubular reactors and less often in fluid(ized) bed reactors or entrained-bed reactors as these are still at the developmental stage. Shaft or vertical reactors, as they are termed, have hitherto been used primarily as heat exchangers for the heating, sintering and cooling of pourable bulk solids or for the pyrolysis of organic waste in order to generate refuse-derived fuels. From the WO 2010/127664 A1, a multi-stage, energy self-sufficient and continuously operating pyrolysis method for the fractionated recovery of valuable substances and energy from pourable, cross-linked organic compounds of high molecular weight, in particular from granules of scrap tires, sealing profiles and other plastic materials, and an apparatus for carrying out said method, are known. In order to develop an energy self-sufficient, continuously operating pyrolysis method for pourable organic granules according to the preamble, it is proposed there that the granules pass gravimetrically through a vertical, multi-stage pyrolysis reactor from top to bottom, said granules being heated to process temperatures that can be set incrementally to different values ranging from 300 to 1,200° C. and being pyrolyzed. Oil and gas compounds are recovered via subsequent fractionated condensation of the pyrolysis vapors, while downstream motor-based use of the pyrolysis gas generates the energy required for the pyrolysis process.